I Understand
by The Quiet Samurai
Summary: I can't really say much here, but the Bird is trying to get the two kids to get along so she wants Enoch to show Jake more of the basement... stuff happens...


Jacob and Enoch walked down the stairs to the basement. Enoch was not happy. Miss P had insisted that he show Jake more of the basement and his Peculiarity. Since when had _that_ become a priority? The basement was, more or less, _Enoch's_ privacy. _His_ place of alone time away from the others. His solitude. His sanctuary. Since when did he _have_ to let Jake barge into his sanctuary? Did the Bird not understand him at all? _She_ out of all people should. None of the other children do, not even Emma, but the _Bird_ should! She's basically their mother, she should understand her children's wants and _needs_. Like how Enoch _needs_ his basement kept to himself unless there's an emergency.

Last time he checked, _Jake_ was NOT an emergency.

Okay, not _now_ anyway. Things were peaceful now. But still. Enoch clenched his hands into fists as they walked down the last few steps of the staircase. Just as soon as he stopped walking though, he noticed that Jake was still half way up the staircase.

Enoch couldn't read his expression.

"We…" Jake hesitated. "We don't _have_ to do this if you don't want to Enoch."

Enoch sighed quietly and looked away. "We have to, she understands me so, maybe we have to." He was unsure about that, he knew that. He was suddenly aware that Jake had started to climb down the rest of the stairs.

"Maybe she doesn't understand as well as she thinks she doe-ah!" the second last step had broke under Jake's weight, and he stumbled forward.

Forward, and right into Enoch's arms.

He doesn't know _why_ he reached out. Maybe it was just human instinct or something. Jake's arms fell onto his shoulders and suddenly their faces were just inches apart. Brown eyes stared into blue eyes, and for a terrifying moment, neither boy did anything. Then Enoch found his voice.

"And you do?" It was barely a whisper, but Jake was close enough to hear it. He swallowed the sudden dryness in his mouth. Jake tried not to react to the feeling of Enoch's hot breath on his mouth.

"Um, kind of. I mean, I was sort of like that a while back. I'm not exactly the most outgoing person either." Jake said hyper aware of how close they were. He was finding it hard to breathe. They've never been that close before. He knew they should probably move away at some point. But he couldn't look away. Then Enoch did, and pushed away from Jake and he suddenly felt cold. Enoch was strangely warm to him for someone that dealt with the dead.

Jake wasn't dumb, he knew what these feelings meant. He had felt it for a while now, when he was with Enoch. And also with others. Other boys that is. He was from a time when people accepted it, so it was easy for him to accept it. But he never told anyone because it was never brought up. He knew his family in his time wouldn't care, not even Grampa Portman if he was alive. But Jacob didn't exactly talk about feelings that much, unless you count the times with the psycho (secretly a Hollow) psychologist. Jake didn't.

He eyed Enoch carefully.

He never told any of the Peculiars about his sexuality because… well… they're from another time completely. A time when it wasn't accepted or even tolerated. Who knew what kind of mindset they had about that? Sure they accepted it if you had some kind of weird power, or were disabled, but this… this was different. Maybe not _super_ different, but just different enough that Jake wasn't going to say anything any time soon.

He told Emma that it'd be strange if they dated because she dated his grandpa. It's not exactly a lie, it's just not the whole truth. The truth being that he could never love her. She accepted that, and decided that it was time to move on so that was good enough for him.

Enoch hadn't said anything for a while and it was making him nervous. He stuck his hands in his pockets and tried not to fidget. A thing he did when he was nervous. Among other stupid things.

"What was it like?" Enoch suddenly asked. He didn't look at Jake, but that was fine. At first Jake didn't know what he was asking about, but then he realized he was asking about the time he was like Enoch.

"Um…" Jake thought about it. He hadn't thought about it in years, but it was still a clean crisp memory in his mind. Something that stuck with him. It was a time before his grandpa died. When he realized he would never have any true friends. He'd become distant, unless he was with his grandfather.

"Lonely. Mostly." Enoch still didn't look at him, but Jake knew he was listening. Jake took a deep breath. "It was a time before my grandfather died."

At this, Enoch looked at him, a bit surprised, but he quickly covered that. He obviously thought it was when his family had thought that Jake was crazy. But Enoch was looking at him so he continued. "I was around eleven or so, and I never had any friends. And the people that were nice to me didn't stick around. I thought, back then, that I would never have any friends." Jake cleared his throat. "I became distant from people, except my grandpa. I didn't try because I thought that no one cared enough. And when the stuff happened after my grandpa died I…" Jacob breathed in deep. "My family became afraid. So I distanced myself even further. I almost never went outside. I was afraid of the woods at the time, but I was sensing the Hollows and didn't realize it. I guess now that I think about it, I became kind of depressed. But I'm over that now. You guys are the first actual friends I've ever had."

"They were afraid for you."

"What?"

"Your family. They were afraid _for_ you. Not _of_ you…" Enoch looked down like he regretted say it.

His tone hit Jake like he had just slammed into a brick wall. He was speaking from experience. Enoch's family had been afraid of him. Jake just wanted to hug him and never let go right then and there- but this was Enoch. He had to be careful.

"I'm sure they loved you, you know." Jacob said and took a step forward. Enoch glared at him and he stepped back.

"I got called a _demon_. Don't you dare say they loved me! I saw it in their eyes! They were afraid of me. I wouldn't blame the other children here if they were afraid too."

Enoch said, his accent getting thick.

Enoch didn't know why he was suddenly saying these things. He breathed deeply, and tried to control his feelings. He didn't feel. He doesn't have a heart.

"They're not." Jake said, suddenly determined. "They're not afraid of you. You can trust me on that. Remember when Miss P asked you to play with Claire and Olive? You made the dolls interact with their tea party, they loved that. You help save us when we needed it." Jake stepped forward again. "Nobody is afraid of you."

Then Jacob suddenly realized something.

"You don't have to be afraid of yourself Enoch." Jake hadn't realized how much closer he'd walked until he reached out to put a hand on Enoch's shoulder. The other boy moved away.

"You don't know anything."

The anger had apparently disappeared. But his breathing was still the same. Deep and heavy. Enoch realized that it was as though he was tired from running.

Then he realized he _was_ tired from running. Running from his problems.

Jake was right.

But not in the way that he thinks. He's not afraid of the fact that he can make dead people and his homemade toys come to life. There's something else, and Enoch knows it.

The room was quiet. Enoch barely heard anyone upstairs most of the time, but now it was almost dead quiet. Very briefly a part of him wondered if the others were listening in on them. But he banished the thought almost instantly. They didn't do that anymore. Okay Millard still did it once in a while, but you can't really blame him, the boy's invisible.

Enoch suddenly noticed that Jake had stepped a little closer to him again. Ugh, this boy and personal space. It's like it doesn't exist in his world.

He wasn't angry though. Not even annoyed. He usually is. Strange.

"Can you show me?" Jake's voice broke through the silence.

"What?"

"Your power."

"Peculiar."

"Right. So can you?"

"You've seen it."

"Well…" Jake paused. "Little stuff sure. Is there more that you can do?"

" _Little_ stuff like bringing a _dead body_ back to life." Enoch scoffed.

Jake smiled and rolled his eyes. "Yes smartass. But it's cool."

"Of course it is, they're dead bodies. Dead things tend to be cool."

Jake looked confused for about a second. "No I meant- uh, never mind forget that." Jake said quickly remembering what it was like trying to get Emma to understand future lingo. "I think it's awesome."

Enoch stared at him. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. "You… think it's awesome?"

"Yeah. It's one of my favourite ones." Jake blushed all of a sudden wondering if he shouldn't have said that. He just blurted it out like it was nothing! He just hoped that Enoch didn't-

"Why?"

Shit.

"Uhm…" Jake couldn't exactly say the _real_ reason. Not _yet_ anyway. But he doesn't like lying to these guys. He hasn't so far (if you don't count not telling Emma the whole truth.) Jake didn't. Jake's silence had obviously sparked a curiosity in Enoch. Again-

Shit.

"I just… um…"

What the hell was he going to say?!

In a panic Jake though of the next best thing instead.

"S-so can you do anything else aside from bringing things to life?"

Idiot.

Enoch blinked at him. His expression blank.

"Jake. Why can't you tell me-"

"Uh can you do other stuff like control hearts of the living or something or heal them?"

"Jake- ugh." Enoch sighed in defeat. Clearly Jake wasn't talking. But _why_? What's so bad about it that he can't tell Enoch why his Peculiar is one of his favourites? "Fine, I'll play along. I can't control living hearts, or heal them…"

"But…" Jake said the curiosity eating away at him.

"I can make connections."

"Connections? Like… what do you mean?"

"I mean, I can make a connection with someone."

Jake's eyebrows burrowed together in confusion. "I still don't understand."

"Oi. Alright." Enoch sighed again. He raised his right hand in front of Jake's chest. He hesitated. Jake saw this and gently took his hand and placed it on his chest. Enoch cleared his throat. "I- I've only done this once before. When I was young. A-and it was an accident I-"

"Hey." Jake's voice was calm and reassuring. "It's okay. It'll be okay. You don't have to be afraid."

Enoch looked at him. He took a deep breath. "Okay. Close your eyes." he said without breaking eye contact. Jake closed his eyes, and so did Enoch.

Jake gasped lightly as he felt a pulse within him. It was almost like magic. In a few seconds he could hear his heart beating loudly. In another few, he could hear another beat that was slightly different.

Enoch's heart.

The beats were different at first, but soon they merged into one beat.

" _Oh wow."_ Jake breathlessly thought.

Now he can see Enoch's past. What he felt like growing up. How _scared_ he was. Not scared of people, but scared of his power. He was afraid of hurting someone. So he didn't make any kind of connections. He was happy when his family sent him away to the home. But he was also still afraid. Afraid that he might hurt one of the other kids. Jake saw how scared Enoch was after he used this power by accident on his baby cousin.

Enoch also saw Jake's past. He saw how badly he was hurting inside. How alone he was. He saw Jake's close bond with Abe. He saw how lost Jake was after his passing. How _scared_ he was. Even in a crowd of people Jake had felt so alone and scared.

Jake breathed deeply as another pulse surged through him.

It was like they were one person now. It was amazing!

" _This is so cool!"_

" _You know you keep saying that. What do you mean by it?"_

" _Enoch?"_

" _Yes."_

" _Whoa… was that last pulse connecting our brains or something?"_

" _In a sense… I guess."_

" _You guess?"_

" _I said I've only ever done this once before. On a baby that didn't really have thoughts so…"_

" _Right, sorry. Enoch this is amazing, you should show the others some time."_

" _No."_

" _Oh, yeah… sorry. I guess you don't want them knowing everything huh?"_

" _Not really."_

" _So why me then? What makes me so special?"_

" _Same reason you couldn't tell me why my Peculiar is one of your favourites."_

" _The sa- damn it you little sneak."_

Enoch chuckled- well, his _mind_ chuckled is more like it.

" _What? You were reluctant to tell me. Though, I have to say, I really didn't expect the reason to be something like… that."_

" _Y-yeah well… I just… um…"_

" _I know. Jake you don't have to be afraid, I understand."_

" _You don't have to sound so smug."_

" _Ha."_

" _So… you too huh?"_

" _Yeah. Me too. I just-"_

Suddenly there was a pulse and Jake gasped as the connection was lost. He opened his eyes and saw a bright white light at first, but then it faded and everything was normal. Enoch looked exhausted and was leaning into Jake for support.

"Are you okay?" Jake asked. Enoch rubbed his forehead and ran a hand through his hair.

"Uh, yeah… yeah. I will be. I just… I think it used up too much energy. I'm exhausted." Enoch yawned, his accent getting thicker because of the exhaustion. But Jake didn't care, he could listen to Enoch speak all day.

Hey, his accent is hot!

"There's a chair over here, come on." Jake said. He gently guided Enoch to where the chair was- and then Jake sat down.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

In response, Jake pulled Enoch down onto his lap and wrapped his arms around him bringing him in close. Jake cleared his throat.

"Is- is this okay?" he asked nervously.

"Yeah." Enoch said breathlessly, and leaned into Jake. Jake was surprisingly comfy. Jake chuckled softly.

"Uh, hey. Before you go into dreamland," Enoch looked at Jake expectantly, "can I… can we… I-I mean…" Jake fumbled with his words and blushed. Enoch smirked and Jake's blush deepened.

Without words, Enoch brought one hand up and cupped one side of Jake's face. Jake's breath caught when Enoch's lips landed on his. It was so simple and sweet, but so full of emotions. Both of their stomach's twisted with excitement and joy, and their hearts beat quickly in time with one another.

And if Miss P found them- with Enoch sleeping peacefully in Jake's arms and Jake watching him lovingly- well they'd deal with that later.

For now, it was just them.


End file.
